Tyson Fury, the 20 year old 6ft 8ins heavyweight from Manchester turns his back on Olympic glory in London for the professional ranks under promoter Mick Hennessy

Heavyweight boxer 'Gypsy' John Fury looked down on his son, born prematurely at six and a half months and weighing 1lb. The vulnerable baby was the size of his hand.

"The doctors told me there was not much chance of him living, and I had lost two daughters in the same way who had been born prematurely," Fury said as he related the events of 20 years ago to The Sunday Telegraph this week.

"They told me there was not much hope for him. It was 1988, Mike Tyson was in his pomp as world heavyweight champion, and so I said 'Let's call him Tyson...' The doctors just looked at me and smiled."

History is hard to fathom two decades on when confronted with the 6ft 8ins, 18st superheavyweight Tyson Fury of today, holder of the Amateur Boxing Association superheavyweight title of 2008, who signed to the professional ranks last night under promoter Mick Hennessy.

Baby Tyson Fury passed in and out of consciousness several times in those first few harrowing days of life, yet is now a huge, handsome man with the most exciting name in world boxing – the neophyte prize fighter hardly needs a ring sobriquet – and could soon become another heavyweight aiming for title glory in a slumbering world division.

"It seems it was meant to be," explained Fury Sr, a barndoor size man from Wilmslow, Cheshire, who had 14 professional fights in the Eighties. "I've never encouraged Tyson to fight. In fact, I've tried my best to discourage him from being a boxer, but it's in him, he wasn't interested in anything else. He's been in the gym since he was 12."

Young Fury has an amateur record of 34 fights, with 30 victories, 26 by knockout and four losses, and evidently, fighting genes. He comes from a well known family of fighting travellers which includes former professionals Peter and Hugh Fury.

The heavyweight fighting lineage goes back another generation with young Fury's grandfather Tiger Gorman, one of nine children, who came over from Ireland, and had 60 heavyweight bouts as a journeyman in the 40s and 50s.

In the same week that four of Britain's Beijing Olympic boxers joined the paid ranks – James DeGale, Frankie Gavin and Billy Joe Saunders (under Frank Warren) and Tony Jeffries (under Dennis Hobson) – and openly criticised the set-up and vicious in-fighting within the amateur sport, 20-year-old Fury insisted he has also turned his back on hopes of glory at the London 2012 Olympics for the same reason: Boxing politics.

Fury was frustrated at playing second fiddle as an amateur to experienced Liverpool boxer David Price, who took a bronze medal in Beijing in the summer.

"I fought David Price three years ago, when I was 17. It was my ninth amateur bout, I knocked him down in the fight, but lost it on points," explained Fury.

"Of course, it would have been great to try for the Olympic team and box in London in 2012, but I could see from the start that boxing politics was going to get in the way.

"It seemed nailed down that Price would be the superheavyweight fighting for Britain. I wasn't selected because of politics. Staying amateur would have restricted my opportunities. That's why I've turned pro."

Hennessy believes the ABA made a mistake in not grooming Fury for Beijing.

"I honestly believe that if the selectors had taken him to Beijing, he would have won the gold medal. We have to be careful because the pro game is very different to the amateurs, but his style is far more suited to the pros.

"He could be winning domestic honours within six months and be a world champion within four years. He is the best heavyweight I have seen since Lennox Lewis – and he is still only 20."

Hennessy added: "He has a brilliant jab which reminds me of Larry Holmes, and is very athletic, like the old heavyweights used to be. He also throws punches in bunches, brilliant combinations, and he has a great chin. He could be an absolute sensation."

Tyson Fury has just been unleashed on the heavyweight division. It could prove to be a fascinating journey.